A few weeks ago, some parents working on school lunch reform told me they’d encountered some resistance from their school’s administration. One of them asked me if there are any studies showing that improving school food results in improved student behavior, which she hoped to use as a selling point with the principal to push forward their reform agenda. I said I’d look into the question and then just a few days ago a reader (thanks, June!) sent me this link.
In a nutshell, this article describes the efforts of one Wisconsin town to improve their school food by removing soda machines, adding water coolers, providing fully stocked salad bars and the like. According to the report, after the changes were implemented, incidents of drug use, vandalism, and student mental health issues all diminished. This finding echos the anecdotal reports I’ve heard from teachers who complain that classroom behavior worsens after children consume sugary or nutritionally “empty” meals.
I guess the real question is, are any of us surprised by this finding?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think Morgan Spurlock’s findings echo these– anecdotal, to be sure, but compelling nonetheless. In his followup book to “Supersize Me,” “Don’t Eat This Book,” he highlights a school of “problem” kids whose behaviors seem to abate with the introduction of real food on the menus.
Ever the scientist begging for data on this point, I’d say that another equally valid conclusion from the article linked here is that perhaps the improvement in kids’ behavior from improved food and drink is like the link between crime and graffiti. If a neighborhood takes care to remove graffiti and repair broken windows, crime will diminish. The best analysis of this link is that people may feel their neighborhood is nicer, better, or whatever, and criminals decide that such a nice area is going to be hard to burgle. Maybe the kids in this Wisconsin school felt better about their school and themselves, given such an obvious improvement in the school evironment (both visually and, I sure, lots of better smells). Thus the bad behavior seemed to go away.
My son refuses to eat his ‘hot’ lunch at Marathon Elementary school. He is a 8 years old and knows all about the chemicals in school lunch. He watched all the food documentarys on Netflix, and since he switched to organic foods(vegetarian), his soul and attitude has also changed. The government and Mansanto are killing us and our children…The water is schools is poison as well, there are pesticides used on the grass, all these toxins eventually lead the immune system down a bad path..resulting in cancer, restlessness, obesity, diabetes, asthsma, and on and on and on and on and on…Do something about this PARENTS, or you will be going to your kids funerals.
{ 1 trackback }